Scotland: Cover Story: Heritage hideaway

One of Scotlands greatest palaces is in crisis. But its misfortune could prove a househunters perfect opportunity, writes Richard Moore

Scotland’s greatest stately home is officially in peril. But this conservation crisis could be a golden opportunity for househunters, as the estate, just outside Edinburgh, is forced to sell off some of its houses for the first time in hundreds of years.

The trust charged with preserving Hopetoun House — often referred to as Scotland’s Versailles — desperately needs funds. These troubles mean that the Garden House has been placed on the private market.

The Hopetoun House Preservation Trust was established by the third Marquess of Linlithgow in 1974. Fire had ripped through the house a year earlier, destroying several valuable art works and antiques. Faced with the prospect of mounting maintenance costs, the third marquess, Charles William Frederick, who died in 1987, gifted the house and grounds to the new trust.

Today, the fourth marquess, Adrian John Charles Hope, continues to live in a wing of Hopetoun House as a tenant